Give peace a chance

[Apologies if the writing isn’t up to scratch on this – I’ve barely slept in a few days due to baby-looking-after duties and it’s a tricky post to write to get things across in a way that’s unlikely to offend anyone. Please do bear in mind, though, that if you are offended it’s down to my poor choice of words or you reading things in a way other than that in which it was intended!]

Three videos tonight. I’ve seen a load of posts over the last 24 hours about the horrific events in Boston and the follow-ups pointing out (validly, if perhaps insensitively) the number of deaths in the Middle East during the same time.

As such, I’ve picked out three videos by three artists to hopefully show that despite their differences all three places can be linked by one thing – quality music. It’s been said in so many quarters that people can be brought together by their love of art, of writing, of music.

People being killed senselessly is a tragedy no matter where it happens. I only hope that people who read this page are smart enough to realise that killing innocent people is wrong whether it’s in the name of revenge, territory, oil, greed, power, religion…

First up is a band from Boston, MA. I had quite a few to pick from, but for the sake of variety I’ve gone with probably the biggest name of the lot. Ladies and gentlemen, Aerosmith:

Secondly, the Middle East. This area of the world is very messy in terms of claims to land ownership, political upheaval, religious disagreements and so forth. It’s also home to some of the most amazing people – from all sides of these disputes – that I’ve ever met.

The band coming next is one you may not have heard from. They’re the “stars” of the film Heavy Metal in Baghdad. If you’ve not seen this film, then see it. It’s funny, saddening, gripping and brilliant. The band are Acrassicauda and they are (or were…) the only heavy metal band in Iraq.

Finally, to show balance from a religious perspective, I’m also including an Israeli band. I am fully aware of the issues in and around Israel, the West Bank, Palestine and so on. These are areas mentioned on the missives following on from the Boston announcement and – yes – it’s awful that people are dying there every day. So often, in fact, that it barely makes the news over here.

I’m not going to go into the issues – that’s for another blog. But one of the biggest divides we have in the world is in this region and essentially based on religion. I hope it makes sense that I’ve included both a band formed by Muslims and one by Jews. It’s all music. It’s all good.

And if we were all in a pit together at a gig, I know I’d not give a shit which you were – if you went down, I’d help you up.

I hope you enjoy this last track from Betzefer. Peace and thoughts to all those innocents who have died over the last couple of days – no matter where in the world it happened.